A smile appeared. “No.”
Austin tipped his head to the side. “Whatever it is, this is more important.”
Reno stood his ground and threw back his shoulders. “I ain’t gonna church it up for you; I have a date with my woman, and she bought sex lingerie. Would you make Lexi wait? Yeah, didn’t think so.”
Denver snorted, and milk dribbled down his chin. “Don’t you mean sexy lingerie?”
Reno snapped his head around and glared at Denver. “No, because as soon as she puts it on, we’re gonna be having sex.”
Denver wiped his chin. “Might be hard to have sex with all that fabric on.”
“Look—” Reno began, pointing his finger.
“Cut it out,” Austin said tersely. “I don’t have time for this shit. Fine. You get a free pass, but the next time I need you for something, Reno, you’ll do it. Get a hold of Wheeler. Tell him when Izzy gets off work. I want him to go with her to the locations.” Then he turned his eyes toward me. “I cleaned up your mess last night, and in case you haven’t figured it out, your wolf leveled that human with one bite. I figure my helping you out makes us square for the call you made that saved Wheeler’s life. Wheeler won’t be getting involved—he’s just going to keep an eye on you.”#p#分页标题#e#
I folded my arms. “In case I decide to get greedy and run with the money? I really wish I could understand why you think I’m that low of a Shifter.”
Austin stepped forward and softened his voice. “I don’t know you. All I know is that Jericho was doing just fine until you showed up. Now we’re hiding bodies and cleaning up our tracks. This isn’t just about you. The Council has the authority to dismantle my pack if they don’t think I have it under—”
“Ho-ly shit,” Denver exclaimed. “Check out Jericho.”
We all looked toward the high grass on the right, and Jericho’s wolf emerged. He was a magnificent shade of brown and powerful in size. Between his fierce jaws was a dead rabbit, and he walked aggressively toward us, making the other men tense.
Jericho’s wolf dropped the rabbit at my feet as an offering. It was a gesture of loyalty and love. If I had been in wolf form, we would have shared the bounty together. It’s something I’d heard of mated couples doing but had never seen. Problem being, I wasn’t his mate, so the dead rabbit made all the men look between one another. What’s more, a Shifter only did this when his mate was in wolf form. Here I was, in human form, and Jericho’s wolf had hunted for me.
“He must be confused,” Austin said quietly.
The wolf sat on his haunches, impervious to the men’s reactions. He smacked his tongue around his mouth and looked up at me expectantly. I brushed my hand over his soft ear, my heart thumping wildly.
“You shouldn’t confuse a wolf like that,” Reno said quietly, staring down at Jericho.
“I didn’t.”
“Then why the hell is a dead rabbit lying at your feet?”
Denver snorted. “Maybe he thinks she needs the foot for her keychain.”
Chapter 21
“Izzy! I need you to cover my tables.”
I glanced over my shoulder across the bar. “What’s wrong, Rosie?” She held up her left hand, and I stared blank-faced at a broken nail. “Really?”
Rosie smiled guiltily. “How am I supposed to give a good impression looking like a hobo who clawed her way to work? I’ll be right back, honey.”
I reached in my pocket for a black band. Instead of a full ponytail, I took the hair from both sides of my head and tied them back.
A familiar face strolled into the bar. The customers tapped their feet to a folksy song playing on the jukebox, not taking notice of the alpha. Lorenzo’s black hair fell over his brown shoulders, just as smooth and straight as could be. He looked like the angel of death—dark hair and eyes, dark tank top and pants, and a look of menace. My eyes skated to the skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his left arm. Leather bracelets with tassels adorned his wrists, and a rope necklace looped around his neck.
Lorenzo caught sight of me at the bar and strolled up, easing into the seat to my left. Denver had taken the night off to go to the concert, so Frank was filling in. He handed Lorenzo a drink without asking for his order. “Here you are, Church.”
Lorenzo’s eyes flicked down to the ligature marks on my wrist, and he unexpectedly snatched my arm, holding it up for a better look.
“Did the Weston pack do this?”
I pulled back. “No.”
His steely eyes narrowed. “If you lie to me, I’ll find out. If I discover they aren’t treating their women right, there’ll be trouble.”